Survey: chasm between legal, IT growing.

• Position: COLLABORATION - Information technology - Survey

While it may be no surprise to some, a survey has found that collaboration between corporate legal and IT departments is in free fall, declining precipitously between 2009 and 2010.

The second-annual survey by Recommind, maker of search-powered information risk management software, shows the working relationship between the two departments has worsened since last year. The survey of senior IT managers at corporations averaging 13,000 employees reveals that IT and legal teams are collaborating on buying decisions and question each other's commitment to and understanding of e-discovery and regulatory compliance. Recommind said this situation endangers effective e-discovery and regulatory responses at a time when such actions are skyrocketing.

According to Recommind, the average U.S. firm faces 305 lawsuits at any given time--a number that jumps to 556 for companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. Because of this and the related e-discovery complexities, close collaboration between the legal and IT departments is critical for all organizations. As the survey shows, however, most are not getting it.

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For example, in 2009:

* 67% of respondents described the relationship between the two departments as "good" or "very good"; in 2010. only 54% did.

* 37% of respondents reported that IT and legal were working more closely together than the year before; only 27% reported that they were in 2010.

* 40% of respondents stated their IT department considered e-discovery to be a high to very-high priority; yet in 2010, only 26% said that it was.

* 82% of respondents said that IT was "very involved" in e-discovery technology purchasing decisions, with legal being "very involved" 48% of the time. Again, in 2010, those numbers dropped...